Islam Times - The General Staff of the Turkish military has issued a statement confirming that 12 Turkish soldiers have been killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

The statement said that the Sikorsky helicopter was on an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission and went down at 10:25 a.m. local time on Friday.

The cause of the accident is yet to be determined by the crash investigation team, the statement added.

Insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan, despite the presence of 130,000 US-led forces in the war-torn country.

The United Nations announced on February 4 that 2011 was the deadliest year on record for Afghan civilians. The death toll rose eight percent compared to the year before and was roughly double the figure for 2007.

Overall, 3,021 civilians died in violence related to the war and 4,507 were wounded in 2011. Of the deaths, the UN attributed 77 percent to militant attacks and 14 percent to US-led foreign troops and Afghan forces. Nine percent of the cases were classified as unknown.